March - Mother (in law)'s Day
by HeKillsWithHisSmile
Summary: Newly engaged, Rose decides that the best time to tell her mother that she's getting married is on Mother's Day. The Doctor is reluctant, of course. Quick one-shot *PtIII of 'A Calendar of Stories' series*


_**A/N: So here is a quick, fluffy one-shot for the third part of this series. I'm a little early considering Mother's Day isn't actually until the 26th, but I'm procrastinating (as I often do) and so decided to finish what I had started at the beginning of the month. I have to say, it's nice to write anything with any angst in it for once. This doesn't seem to happen a lot anymore.**_

 _ **And on that note, I leave you with this, my wonderful readers. See you soon (with probably angst, so enjoy your fluff while it lasts)**_

* * *

"I'm not going." The Doctor said defiantly, leaning against the TARDIS console, his arms folded as he looked directly at Rose standing in front of him.

"Come on, Doctor." Rose pleaded him. "We have to tell her together."

"No," the Doctor told her. "You know full well that she'll slap me and I'm not very fond of being slapped by your mother. It was bad enough when she slapped me when she caught us on the sofa that time!"

Rose tried not to laugh at the memory. They hadn't yet told her they were together then and, since Jackie had said she was going out for a few hours, the two of them had decided to make use of the time. Except Jackie had decided to come back almost as soon as she had left, saying that, due to weather conditions, the plans she'd had had been cancelled. It was then that she had caught them kissing on the sofa. It was a blessing that they hadn't yet gone any further. God knows what would have happened to the Doctor had that been the case – the slap had been bad enough.

To this day, the Doctor was convinced that Jackie had said she'd been going out just to catch them out.

She was a sneaky one, Rose's mother.

"To be honest, we were about to have sex on her sofa."

"I'm sure we would have moved eventually." The Doctor countered.

Rose just raised her eyebrow.

"I'm still not going."

"But Doctor, it's Mother's Day!" Rose told him.

"Exactly – she's not my mother." The Doctor reminded her.

"But she's going to be your mother _in law_."

The Doctor just groaned at the thought.

"Please, for me?" Rose gave him her best pleading look which she knew he couldn't resist. It consisted of the puppy-dog eyes that often got them in trouble; and by _them_ what was really meant was _him._ The amount of times he had been dragged into awkward social situations regarding Rose's family and friends because of this exact look was ridiculous. His race had been one of the oldest in the universe and had looked down upon things like this, so how exactly had he gotten himself in this situation in the first place?

He'd never know, but, honestly, he wouldn't change it for anything.

"Oh, alright. Fine." The Doctor gave in and Rose gave him a winning smile knowing that she had broken him down again. "But if your mother slaps me…" he left the threat incomplete, not really knowing how to finish it, but knew Rose got the gist of what he was getting at. It was the same every time they went to see Jackie, regardless of whether they had news to tell her or not.

"I know, I know. I promise, I won't let her slap you."

"She's not going to like this, you know?"

"What? The idea of us getting married?"

"Yes, that." The Doctor nodded as he turned around to start setting the coordinates that he wished he sometimes wished he hadn't learnt off by heart.

Rose came up to him and rested her chin on his shoulder. "You worry too much." She told him, pressing a kiss to the side of his neck before withdrawing and sitting down on the jump seat watching as the Doctor piloted the TARDIS.

The Doctor just grunted in response before the ship jolted as they began their journey to London.

God, he wished he could be anywhere but here, right now.

…

After having had all remaining regenerations squeezed out of him by one of Jackie Tyler's welcoming hugs upon walking into the flat, the Doctor was now sat on the sofa with Rose, drinking a cup of tea whilst Jackie finished preparing the lunch she had in the over.

Numerous times, Rose had offered that she and the Doctor could do that (since it was Mother's Day after all), but Jackie had simply refused, saying that it was enough of a gift that she was home for the day. Rose still tried offering, despite the Doctor's wide-eyed look of protest every time she suggested it.

"So, how long are you planning on staying?" Jackie asked as she came to sit down next to her daughter.

"Just the day, I think. There's no way that I'll be able to keep this one here any longer." Rose answered, nudging the Doctor in the side who gave a quiet, but defined, 'oi' in response.

Jackie simply ignored him, having gotten used to his antics over the past couple of years. "How is everything between the two of you?"

"Couldn't be better." The Doctor answered honestly, smiling down at Rose by his side. She smiled back, suddenly feeling quite shy under the intensity of the Doctor's gaze.

Jackie, too smiled. It sounded corny, even to her ears, but she had never envisaged this happening to her daughter – that she would one day fall for a man from another world – but she couldn't be happier. She had seen, first hand, just how the two of them completed each other and made each other happy. Over the few years she had known him, Jackie could tell that the Doctor was a troubled man. He had mentioned before that he was the last of his kind and that, although she didn't know the full extent of what had happened, she could sense enough to know that it still plagued him to this very day. The fact that it had been Rose to clearly help him out of the dark made Jackie a very proud mother indeed. And, as for the Doctor completing Rose, Jackie was glad her daughter had found someone who could literally give her the stars. Her daughter had never been able to keep her head out of the clouds – literally as well as metaphorically it seemed.

"Actually, mum, there's something we wanted to tell you." Rose started, looking towards the Doctor as if to ask him if now was a good time to bring up what they talked about on the TARDIS before arriving.

The Doctor's eyes widened in the way that Rose had expected when it got round to telling her mother about their engagement. He wanted to tell her no, that they didn't have to do this now, not when Jackie was being so nice to him. He wanted to tell her that he'd rather have all his remaining regenerations hugged out of him than slapped out of him, which, he told himself, he could potentially see happening.

"What is it?" Jackie asked, slightly worried as she looked at the Doctor's expression. "What have you done?" This was directly firmly at the Doctor who seemed to retreat into the sofa as far as humanely possible. He felt guilty, despite not actually having done anything wrong.

"Nothing!" He said, subtly trying to position himself behind Rose so there was a wall between himself and his future mother-in-law.

"Then why are you retreating?"

Damn. Clearly he needed to work on his subtly.

"I was…stretching my back." He answered unconvincingly.

Rose just gave him a look that clearly said she was unimpressed with his behaviour.

"Stretching your back?" Jackie asked disbelievingly.

"Mum, leave him. He's just nervous." Rose told her.

For once, the Doctor didn't deny it and Rose knew that it was going to be her who was going to have to deliver this news on her own.

The man had fought Daleks by the millions and yet he was scared of telling his fiancée's mother that he was getting married.

Typical.

"That's new," Jackie said. "So what is it? What's he so scared to tell me?"

"Well, it concerns both of us." Rose started. "About a week ago, the Doctor asked me to marry him."

"What?" Jackie asked shocked.

"And that's my cue." The Doctor said. He made to get up, but Rose put a hand on his thigh, telling him to sit still. "If I get slapped…" he whispered in her ear.

"We're getting married." Rose said with a smile.

"You're getting married?" Jackie repeated and Rose just laughed at her mother's evident shock.

The Doctor, though, was still geared up to leg it if need be.

"Yes," Rose said laughing still.

"Oh Rose, that's brilliant news." Jackie said happily. "Come here, love." She enveloped her daughter into a tight hug, congratulating her on her engagement by telling her how happy she was for her.

She let go a moment later and looked towards the Doctor, who still looked as though he was about to run off any moment now.

"And you, come here." She said as he brought the Doctor, as well, into a tight hug.

For the second time that day, he felt as though he was having his life hugged out of him, but this time he hugged back, more relieved that Jackie's reaction hadn't gone the other way more than anything.

"I'm so pleased for you both – it's about time." She said with a smile. "I've been asking Rose for months about if you were going to propose to her at some point."

"You never said you were having these conversations." The Doctor said, looking towards Rose.

"What was I supposed to say? You would have thought I was desperate." She laughed.

"Would've probably have made me get my act together quicker though." He replied, kissing her gently on the temple.

"I tell you what, this is the best news I could have received on Mother's Day." Jackie told them, she then disappeared back into the kitchen for a second, presumably to check on the food since they had completely forgotten about it. Either that or she wanted to excitedly (and silently) scream to herself about the fact that her daughter was getting married. Or, you know, it could be both.

The Doctor just looked across at Rose.

"You planned this, didn't you? Telling your mother on Mother's Day."

"Yup," Rose nodded. "I forgot it was Mother's Day until yesterday." She whispered in her ear.

"Cheapskate, you are." He whispered back.

"I know, but I realised we still needed to tell her about our engagement and thought it would be the perfect time. After all, like she said, she's been going on about it for months."

The Doctor was about to reply when Jackie came back into the living room, now holding a bottle of champagne and three glasses.

"Thought we could have a toast." She said. A thought then suddenly crossed her mind as she placed the items down on the coffee table and she looked across at Rose.

"Hold on, you can drink this, right?" She asked, both Rose and the Doctor looked confused. "I mean, you're not going to suddenly announce that you're pregnant, are you?"

Blushing hard, Rose was about to answer but the Doctor beat her two it as he picked up the bottle of champagne and shook it, positioning it away from everyone and everything as he was about to pop the cork.

"No, don't worry," he said a moment before. "That's next year's Mother's Day gift."


End file.
